Some individuals find solace in being alone; however, imagine being alone in a concrete cell for months or even years? Isolated from the entire world into a small box seems intimidating, but this tactic is used throughout the US prison system. Solitary confinement is as a disciplinary action on the prisoners to ensure their safety and serve as punishment. This issue has raised both ethical and practical questions on its usage through US prisons because of its benefits and drawbacks.
In my honest opinion solitary confinement in the U.S. is not justified and only does more harm than good. Not only is it a rash punishment, but it is one of the worst kinds of psychological tortures that could be inflicted upon an inmate. Human beings are undoubtedly social creatures and without the mere contact of another person the mind decays and ultimately leads a person to anger, anxiety, and hopelessness. Psychologists also claim that solitary confinement and isolation in general also cause depression or the loss of ability to have any "feelings", cognitive disturbances, such as confused thought processes and disorientation, perceptual distortions, such as hypersensitivity to noises and smells, distortions of sensations, and hallucinations affecting all five senses, as well as paranoia and psychosis which often times involve schizophrenic type symptoms, and finally, the worst of all symptoms, being self-harm such as self-mutilation, cutting and even suicide attempts.
“I found solitary confinement the most forbidding aspect of prison life. There is no end and no beginning; there is only one's mind, which can begin to play tricks. Was that a dream or did it really happen? One begins to question everything.”This is a quote from Nelson Mandela who spent 27 years in prison and many of those years in solitary confinement. He only got through with intense determination which many criminals don’t have. Solitary confinement should not be allowed and must be banned. Solitary confinement, or SHU(special housing unit), causes severe mental problems as well as brain damage. Solitary confinement violates basic human rights. SHU is not just used for the “worst of the worst”, it is a common punishment for misbehavior in
This task will majorly focus on the lack of social and cognitive development of Genie and its connection with Piaget’s and Erickson’s human psychological development theories. As one of the most well- known feral children in the 20th century, the young girl Genie had been confined to a room, isolated and abused by her parents for over a decade before the rescue. Due to the severely abnormal development occurred in the childhood, Genie’s linguistic ability was nearly undeveloped, her limbs were not fully extended, her development was delayed from various perspectives.
The answer is an obvious, yes! As stated earlier, the learning development of a feral children who was raised by animals was based on the modeling of the animals involved. However, this case is not trivial for Genie because of the grave abuse and isolation. One theory proposed in Psychology was that young children can learn certain things, such as language, at a certain time, called the critical periods. In this light, it would have been impossible for Genie to learn any languages. In line with this is the Piaget 's Stage Theory with the assumption that the other people were not necessary for the acquisition of new skills and practices. For Genie 's case, this has been reversed (the theory might not be necessarily wrong), with the fact that in her cognitive development started when she was older than 13 years of age. After the transfer of Genie to LA children 's Hospital, pediatricians, psychologists, and linguists treated her. Exposing her outside hospital, everything is a new experience for her, and it had great progresses, as she learned to play, chew, dress herself, and enjoy music. She was enthusiastic, she was learning the words for the things around her, and she engaged with the people around her. As a consequence, she also showed signs of intelligence. Vygotsky 's theory made almost perfect sense since the linguist and the social workers responsible for Genie 's care played a
Solitary confinement, in my opinion, is cruel and unusual punishment. If there was not a mental-health crisis in America, and there was in fact a rehabilitation-focused prison system, solitary confinement would be greatly reduced and used much more sparingly. What is the point of driving people to madness by putting them in isolation? It would be so much cheaper for tax payers to change the system to a more effective one that actually reduces
Solitary confinement can affect a person’s physical and mental health simply because it deprives an individual of their need to interact with others on a daily basis. Solitary confinement, which is used to restrain violent and volatile inmates from the general prison population, is done in increments ranging from several months to years. In an article retrieved from the American Psychological Association, ‘Alone, in ‘the Hole’’, the author states that, “for most of the 20th century, prisoners' stays in solitary confinement were relatively short.” This was the standing rule, in which inmates visited what is known as ‘the hole’, for several weeks to months. As time went by, the average length of stay
By definition, solitary confinement is the isolation of a prisoner in a separate cell as a form of punishment. This technique has been practiced in the United States since the early 1800’s and arguments on whether or not it should be practiced followed very soon after its institution. Arguments surrounding solitary confinement are slightly diverse, ranging from full support to views denouncing it. The arguments are more complex than just pro versus con; however, some reside in the middle of the argument, acknowledging its flaws and expecting reform, but also acknowledge the base purpose of the institution.
Solitary confinement is the act of housing a convict for 22-23 hours a day in an isolated cell, completely free from any human contact for an extended period of time. Going from days to possibly decades while sitting in these cells. There are more than 80,000 men, women, and children in solitary confinement in prisons across the United States according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Not including thousands more in jails, juvenile facilities, immigration detention centers and military prisons. After experiencing confinement some inmates suffer from negative mental health effects that can possibly lead to suicide. Solitary confinement should be abolished all across the United States because of the severe negative effects it has on prisoners.
The United States is home to half of the world’s total imprisoned population (BBC News). In the nineteenth century, solitary confinement was thought to promote reform in prisoners. However, modern research suggests that locking a human being in a jail cell the size of a handicap bathroom stall for more than 22 hours a day does more harm than good. In spite of these scientific discoveries, prisons in the United States continue to use solitary confinement as a method of incarceration. Due to the negative impact prolonged solitude has on the human mind, solitary confinement should be outlawed as a form of torture.
Stephen Chapman’s essay “The Prisoner’s Dilemma,” compares two different cultures and their ideologies with regards to justice and punishment. Chapman’s topic can definitely be seen as controversial as it questions the morality of both foreign and western societies justice systems. If one is not reading and thinking objectively it can strike a mine is better mindset within the reader in the first page of his argument. The viewpoint he takes is not one that is commonly displayed nor talked about. Stephen Chapman’s claim in the essay is essentially that western societies prison system is a more cruel form of punishment than middle eastern practices of physical harm.
The Genie Wiley documentary is about a 13 year old girl who is discovered to of been severely socially isolated from human contact for over 10 years. Taking place in the 1970s once Genie had been accidentally exposed to The children AIDS society when her blind mother walked into the establishment by mistake. The agency got custody of Genie almost immediately. When Genie became property of The children's hospital she was 13 years old entirely un verbal and still in diapers. Genie had been severely abused for over several years. Immediately though researchers and doctors all over the world took a great interest in Genie. They believed her rehabilitation from her severe social isolation was possible. Her
Saxton describes linguistic input as the “fuel” which powers first language acquisition, and points out that child directed speech is a special register, designed in a way that might make it easier for the child to learn different aspects of language (Saxton, 80). Gleason and Ratner, although they mostly use the term caregiver's speech or baby talk, agree on this, and make a point to distinguish child directed speech from parents imitating the babbling of an infant (39).
The topic of infant abuse and its social and emotional affects on infant development always seems to be ignored by many people. There have been articles written on criminals and the reason they became criminals is because of the abuse they experienced in their childhood. Not all criminals are victims of infant abuse but studies show that some of them most definitely are, and the most common kind of abuse is neglect. Knowing about infant abuse is important because it happens all around and if we know about it we can easily detect it instead of being ignorant about it. Infant abuse is more common than people think it to be. People should care because this is a serious situation and if we care then we can help the infants who were at one point abused by an adult and give them the right help they deserve. If an infant is abused by an adult they know, how will that experience affect them as they grow older? If an infant is abused by an adult they know, that experience can affect their mental illness as they grow older.
There are at least three situations that create a desire to employ a case study method of research. The first reason to employ a case study method of research is determined by the question itself that the study is trying to address. Case studies are relevant when one is attempting to addresses either a descriptive question “what is happening or what has happened?” and an explanatory question such as how or why did something happen the way it happened. Secondly, by give emphasis to the study of a phenomenon within its real-world context, the case study method of research favors the collection of data in natural settings, compared with relying on already derived data. Thirdly, case studies as methods of research are now commonly used in conducting